The Avengers are a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 (cover-dated Sept. 1963), created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby. The Avengers is Lee and Kirby's renovation of a previous superhero team, All-Winners Squad, that appeared in comic books series published Marvel Comics' predecessor Timely Comics.

Labeled "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", the Avengers originally consisted of Ant-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the Wasp. Ant-Man had become Giant-Man by issue #2. The original Captain America was discovered trapped in ice in issue #4, and joined the group after they revived him. A rotating roster became a hallmark of the series, although one theme remained consistent: the Avengers fight "the foes no single superhero can withstand." The team, famous for its battle cry of "Avengers Assemble!", has featured humans, mutants, Inhumans, androids, aliens, supernatural beings, and even former villains.

The team has appeared in a wide variety of media outside of comic books, including a number of different animated television series and direct-to-video films. The 2012 live-action feature film The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, set numerous records during its box office run, including one of the biggest opening debuts in North America, with a weekend gross of $207.4 million.[1] A second Avengers film titled Avengers: Age of Ultron was released on May 1, 2015, followed by Avengers: Infinity War, which became the first superhero film to gross over $2 billion and was released on April 27, 2018. An untitled sequel is scheduled for release on May 3, 2019.

The debut of the original Avengers: The Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963). Cover art by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers The five founding members were: Ant-Man (Hank Pym), The Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, and The Hulk.

The team debuted in The Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963). Much like the Justice League, the Avengers were an assemblage of pre-existing superhero characters created by Lee and Jack Kirby. This initial series, published bi-monthly through issue #6 (July 1964) and monthly thereafter ran through issue #402 (Sept. 1996), with spinoffs including several annuals, miniseries and a giant-size quarterly sister series that ran briefly in the mid-1970s.[2]

Other spinoff series include West Coast Avengers, initially published as a four-issue miniseries in 1984, followed by a 102-issue series (Oct. 1985–Jan. 1994), retitled Avengers West Coast with #47;[3][4] and the 40-issue Solo Avengers (Dec.1987–Jan. 1991), retitled Avengers Spotlight with #21.[5][6]

Between 1996 and 2004, Marvel relaunched the primary Avengers title three times. In 1996, the "Heroes Reborn" line took place in an alternate universe, with a revamped history unrelated to mainstream Marvel continuity.

The Avengers vol. 3 relaunched and ran for 84 issues from February 1998 to August 2004. To coincide with what would have been the 500th issue of the original series, Marvel changed the numbering, and The Avengers #500–503 (Sept.– Dec. 2004), the one-shotAvengers Finale (Jan. 2005)[7] became the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline and final issues. In January 2005, a new version of the team appeared in the ongoing title The New Avengers,[8] followed by The Mighty Avengers, Avengers: The Initiative, and Dark Avengers. Avengers vol. 4 debuted in July 2010 and ran until January 2013.[9] Vol. 5 was launched in February 2013.[10] After Secret Wars, a new Avengers team debuted, dubbed the All-New, All-Different Avengers, starting with a Free Comic Book Day preview.[11] Following Civil War II, the book was relaunched in 2016 as Avengers, while retaining the same writer and much of the cast from the All-New, All-Different run.[12] The series ran for 11 issues before reverting to the numbering of the original Avengers series with issue #672. Starting with issue #675, all four Avengers titles being published at the time (Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, U.S. Avengers and Occupy Avengers) were merged into a single weekly series dubbed Avengers: No Surrender, designed to close out this era of the team's history.[13]

Following the conclusion of No Surrender in 2018, the series will be relaunched again as Avengers.[14]

When the Asgardian god Loki seeks revenge against his brother Thor, his machinations unwittingly lead teenager Rick Jones to collect Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Iron Man to help Thor and the Hulk, whom Loki used as a pawn. After the group vanquished Loki, Ant-Man stated that the five worked well together and suggested they form a team; the Wasp named the group Avengers.[15][16]

The Avengers headquarters was in a New York City building called Avengers Mansion, courtesy of Tony Stark (Iron Man's real identity). The mansion was serviced by Edwin Jarvis, the Avengers' faithful butler,[44] and furnished with state of the art technology and defense systems, and included the Avengers' primary mode of transport: the five-engine Quinjet.

The prequel comic Avengers #1 1/2 (Dec. 1999), by writer Roger Stern and artist Bruce Timm, told a retro-style story taking place between issues #1 and #2, detailing Ant-Man's decision to transform himself into Giant-Man.[45]

The team encountered new characters such as Arkon in issue #75 (April 1970),[46] and Red Wolf in #80 (Sept. 1970).[47] The team's adventures increased in scope as the team crossed into an alternate dimension and battled the Squadron Supreme,[48][49][50] and fought in the Kree-Skrull War,[51][52][53] an epic battle between the alien Kree and Skrull races and guest-starred the Kree hero, Captain Marvel. The Avengers briefly disband when Skrulls impersonating Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man used their authority as founders of the team and disbanded it.[54] The true founding Avengers, minus the Wasp, reformed the team in response after complaints from Jarvis.[55]

Mantis joined the team along with the reformed Swordsman.[56] "The Avengers-Defenders Clash" storyline crossed over between the two team titles.[57][58][59] "The Celestial Madonna" arc linked Mantis' origins to the very beginnings of the Kree-Skrull conflict in a time-spanning adventure involving Kang the Conqueror,[60] and Immortus, who were past and future versions of each other.[61][62][63] Mantis was revealed to be the Celestial Madonna,[64] who was destined to give birth to a being that would save the universe.[65] It was revealed that the Vision's body had only been appropriated, and not created by Ultron, and that it originally belonged to the 1940s Human Torch. With his origins clear to him, the Vision proposed to the Scarlet Witch. The "Celestial Madonna" saga ended with their wedding, presided over by Immortus.[66][67] The Beast and Moondragon joined the team soon after.[68] A seven-part story featured the Squadron Supreme and the Serpent Crown.[69]

Other classic storylines included "The Bride of Ultron",[70][71] the "Nefaria Trilogy",[72][73][74] and "The Korvac Saga", which featured nearly every Avenger who joined the team up to that point.[75][76]Henry Peter Gyrich became the Avengers' liaison to the United States National Security Council.[73][77] Gyrich was prejudiced against superhumans and acted in a heavy-handed, obstructive manner, and insisted that the Avengers follow government rules and regulations or else lose their priority status with the government. Among Gyrich's demands was that the active roster be trimmed down to only seven members, and that the Falcon, an African American, be admitted to the team to comply with affirmative action laws. This last act was resented by Hawkeye, who because of the seven-member limit lost his membership slot to the Falcon.[78] The Falcon, in turn, was unhappy to be the beneficiary of what he perceived to be tokenism, and decided to resign from the team, after which Wonder Man rejoined.[79] The true origins of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were revealed in a three-part story that ran in issues #185–187 (July–Sept. 1979).[80] After this adventure, the Scarlet Witch took a leave of absence and Ms. Marvel officially joined the team as her replacement.[81]

The first major development was the breakdown of Henry Pym,[82] with his frequent changes of costume and name being symptomatic of an identity problem and an inferiority complex. After he abused his wife, failed to win back the confidence of the Avengers with a ruse and was duped by the villain Egghead, Pym was jailed.[83] Pym would later outwit Egghead and defeated the latest incarnation of the Masters of Evil single-handedly, and proved his innocence.[84] Pym reconciled with the Wasp, but they decided to remain apart.[85] Pym retired from super-heroics,[85] but returned years later.[86]

This was followed by several major storylines, such as "Ultimate Vision" in which the Vision took over the world's computer systems in a misguided attempt to create world peace;[87][88][89][90] the formation of the West Coast Avengers;[91][92] and "Avengers Under Siege" which involved the second Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil taking over the mansion and severely injuring Jarvis and Hercules.[93] "Assault on Olympus" featured Hercules' father, Zeus, blaming the Avengers for his son's injuries and brought them to Olympus for trial,[94] and the "Heavy Metal" arc saw the Super Adaptoid organized several robotic villains for an assault on the team.[95] New members during the 1980s included Tigra;[96] the She-Hulk;[97]Monica Rambeau (then going by the name Captain Marvel);[98]Starfox (the brother of Thanos);[99] Hawkeye's wife, Mockingbird;[91] and Namor,[100] while Henry Pym emerged from retirement to join the West Coast Avengers.[86] Spider-Man was again offered membership,[101] but failed to gain admission due to security concerns by the Avengers' government liaison.[102]

The villain Nebula falsely claimed to be the granddaughter of Thanos.[103] The team relocated for a period to a floating island off the coast of New York called Hydrobase after Avengers Mansion was severely damaged during the events in "Under Siege".[104] Hydrobase was later sunk during the Acts of Vengeance crossover.[105]

The Avengers and West Coast Avengers changed to allow members to be active when available and reserved when not available and merged the two separate Avengers teams into one team with two bases.[106] The Vision had his personality fundamentally altered, along with the discovery that the children of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision were actually illusions. The loss of the Scarlet Witch's children and the Vision, who was disassembled by government agents in retaliation for the Ultimate Vision storyline, drove her insane, although she eventually recovered and rejoined the team. This story revealed that the Scarlet Witch's powers included wide-range reality manipulation and she was what the time-traveling Immortus refers to as a "nexus being" setting the stage for 2004's eventual Chaos and Avengers Disassembled storylines.[107] This played out in the Darker than Scarlet storyline which ran in Avengers West Coast from issues #51–62 (Nov. 1989–Sept. 1990). The Avengers titles in late 1989 were involved in the major crossover event "Acts of Vengeance" where Loki assembled many of Marvel's arch-villains, his inner circle consisted of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Mandarin, Wizard, and Red Skull, in a plot to destroy the team. Loki orchestrated a mass breakout of villains from prison facility, the Vault, as part of his "Acts of Vengeance" scheme, but he ultimately failed in his goal to destroy the Avengers.

The U.S. government revoked the Avengers' New York State charter in a treaty with the Soviet Union. The Avengers then received a charter from the United Nations and the Avengers split into two teams with a substitute reserve team backing up the main teams.[108]

At this point, ongoing storylines and character development focused on the Black Knight, Sersi, Crystal, Hercules, the Vision, and the Black Widow. Their primary antagonists in this run were the mysterious Proctor and his team of other-dimensional Avengers known as the Gatherers. During this period, the Avengers found themselves facing increasingly murderous enemies and were forced to question their rule against killing.[109]

This culminated in "Operation: Galactic Storm", a 19-part storyline that ran through all Avengers-related titles and showcased a conflict between the Kree and the Shi'ar Empire.[110] The team split when Iron Man and several dissidents executed the Supreme Intelligence against the wishes of Captain America. After a vote disbanded the West Coast Avengers, Iron Man formed a proactive and aggressive team called Force Works.[111] During the team's first mission, Wonder Man was killed again, though his atoms were temporarily scattered. Force Works later disbanded after it was revealed that Iron Man became a murderer via the manipulations of the villain Kang,[112] the same storyline seeing Iron Man sacrificing himself and being replaced by his teenage counterpart from a parallel timeline.

During the Heroes Reborn event, many of the Avengers together with the Fantastic Four and others, died trying to stop the psychic entity Onslaught, although it was revealed that Franklin Richards preserved those heroes in a pocket universe. Believing the main team to be gone, the Black Widow disbanded the Avengers, and only butler Edwin Jarvis remained to tend to the Mansion.

The previous continuity of the Marvel Universe was set aside as the heroes were "reborn" in the pocket universe created by Franklin Richards to save his parents and their friends, while the "Heroes Reborn" line ended[113] and the heroes returned to the prime Marvel Universe. This restoration also undid recent changes to the team members such as the Wasp being mutated into an insectoid state, Hawkeye being rendered deaf, and Stark being replaced by his teenage self, attributed to Franklin's childish perception recreating the heroes in the manner he was more familiar with.

After the Heroes Reborn series concluded, the Avengers comic was restarted with vol. 3 #1 written by Kurt Busiek and pencilled by George Pérez. New members during this run included the revived Wonder Man, Justice, Firestar, Silverclaw, and Triathlon. The Avengers fought many of their traditional villains such as the Grim Reaper,[114][115]Ultron,[116]Count Nefaria, and Kang the Conqueror.[117] The limited seriesAvengers Forever, starting during this period, was a time travel story that explored the history of the Avengers and resolved many outstanding questions about Kang and Immortus's past manipulations of the team, featuring various Avengers from the past, present and possible futures working alongside Kang the Conqueror and Rick Jones as part of Kang's attempt to escape his perceived 'destiny' as Immortus.

The Avengers were granted international authority by the United Nations. Members joining during that period included Jack of Hearts and the second Ant-Man. A new Captain Britain was added to the team. The "Avengers Disassembled" storyline followed.[118][119] Titled Chaos, the story featured the deaths of some members and a loss of credibility for the team. The culprit is revealed to be the Scarlet Witch, who had gone insane after agonizing over the memory of her lost children and who subsequently lost control of her reality-altering powers.[120] With the team in disarray and Avengers Mansion ruined, the surviving members agreed to disband.

In the company-wide "Civil War" story arc, Marvel superheroes were split over compliance with the U.S. government's new Superhuman Registration Act, which required all superpowered persons to register their true identities with the federal government and become agents of same. The New Avengers disbanded, with a rebel underground starring in a series retaining The New Avengers in its trademarked cover logo and New Avengers in its copyrightindicia. Luke Cage led this team, consisting of himself, Echo, Ronin, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Iron Fist, and Doctor Strange. During the long-term Secret Invasion by the shape-shifting alien race the Skrulls, it was revealed that Spider-Woman had been abducted and replaced by the Skrull queen Veranke before she even joined the team. After the Skrulls' defeat, Spider-Woman was rescued along with other abducted and replaced heroes. During the company-wide story arc "Dark Reign", Echo and Iron Fist left the team and the Avengers gained Ms. Marvel, Bucky Barnes as a fill-in Captain America, and Mockingbird.

Iron Man, in the series The Mighty Avengers, formed a team under the aegis of the government's Fifty State Initiative program, and took up residency in New York City, joined by Ares, the Black Widow, the Sentry, the Wasp, Wonder Man, and leader Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel.[123][124] After the events of the Secret Invasion story arc, Norman Osborn assumed control of the formerly S.H.I.E.L.D.-sponsored Avengers, now under the auspices of his own agency, H.A.M.M.E.R. All but Ares and the Sentry left this team — the Wasp appeared to have died — and the team migrated to the series Dark Avengers. Osborn recruited Marvel Boy to pose as Captain Marvel and Daken to pose as his father, Wolverine, bringing Moonstone, Bullseye, and Venom from his previous Thunderbolts team to impersonate Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and Spider-Man respectively.

In The Mighty Avengers, Pym, assumed the Wasp identity in tribute to his fallen ex-wife, led a new team of Avengers, and claimed the name for his team as he was the only founding Avenger on any of the three active Avengers rosters (Wasp and Cap were dead, Thor was acting solo, and Iron Man was on the run from Osborn). His team operated under a multinational umbrella group, the Global Reaction Agency for Mysterious Paranormal Activity (GRAMPA). This team featured the roster of Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Stature, the Vision, Jocasta, U.S. Agent, Quicksilver, and Pym. Loki in disguise as the Scarlet Witch was a recurring character. Iron Man and the Hulk were briefly with them.

After Osborn's Dark Avengers are exposed as criminals and their attack on Asgard was thwarted, the next iteration of the Avengers roster consists of Thor, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, and team leader Maria Hill.[125]Steve Rogers, briefly eschewing his Captain America persona, responds to Luke Cage's concerns about the team reverting to old methods by granting Cage's "New Avengers" recognition as an official team independent of Stark's more traditional Avengers. Bucky Barnes as Captain America joined the main Avengers, while Iron Fist, Power Woman, and the Thing joined Cage's team, Spider-Man and Wolverine maintaining dual membership in both teams. Rogers was an occasional presence and Victoria Hand was added as a government liaison for the New Avengers with Rogers's backing.

The "Shattered Heroes" storyline leads to several changes in the main Avengers lineup, with Quake and Storm being recruited, and the Vision rejoining the team. Wolverine and Spider-Man leave the main team and become more involved with the New Avengers.[133] During the events of the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, Storm quits to side with her fellow mutants as a member of the X-Men. The Avengers dismiss Noh-Varr after he attempted to betray the team, though ultimately he did not. The conflict ends with both teams united but defeated by an unrepentant Cyclops. A new series, Uncanny Avengers, debuted in the flagship title of the Marvel NOW! initiative. The title is written by Rick Remender with art by John Cassaday, and the team contains members of both the Avengers and the X-Men.[134] As well, a biweekly Avengers title was launched, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by different artists for each story arc.[135] Hickman also began writing New Avengers.[136]

During the 2014 "AXIS" storyline, when a now-evil Scarlet Witch invades Latveria, Doctor Doom forms his own team of Avengers consisting of 3D Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Stingray, Valkyrie, and U.S. Agent.[137] After various heroes and villains experience a moral inversion in the battle against the Red Skull empowered with Professor Charles Xavier's abilities, Rogers later assembles Magneto, Doctor Doom, the Absorbing Man, Carnage, Deadpool, the Enchantress, the Hobgoblin, the fifth Jack O'Lantern, Loki, Mystique, and Sabretooth, all temporarily 'inverted' to act as heroes, to assist he and Spider-Man in defeating the inverted Avengers and X-Men until the original spell can be undone.[138] During the "Time Runs Out" storyline, Sunspot created a team of the Avengers, consisting of himself, Black Widow, Cannonball, Manifold, Pod, Shang-Chi, Smasher, Spider-Woman, Validator, and the Children of the Sun. The "Multiversal Avengers" division of this team consists of Abyss, the Ex Nihili (including Ex Nihilo), Hyperion, Nightmask, Odinson, and Star Brand.[139]

Following the destruction and reconstruction of reality in the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, a new team is created known as Avengers Idea Mechanics, set to tackle Avengers-level threats beyond simply fighting villains, while the Avengers Unity Squad continues to operate to support mutant relations. Iron Man forms a new team of Avengers in the All-New All-Different Avengers series consisting of himself, the Vision, Nova (Sam Alexander), Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Captain America (Sam Wilson), and Thor (Jane Foster).[140] Following the Civil War II, storyline, the title was canceled and replaced with a new volume of the regular Avengers title. The roster was also changed, where following Iron Man being placed in a coma, and Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Nova, and Ms. Marvel's resignation from the team (who instead teamed up with other heroes their own age to form their own group the Champions[141]), the remaining three members are paired up with Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Hercules and Wasp (Nadia Pym) to form a new team.[142]

During the 2017 "Secret Empire" storyline, the Hydra regime has their own Avengers consisting of Odinson, Deadpool, a Chthon-possessed Scarlet Witch, Vision (who was suffering from an A.I. Virus created by Arnim Zola), Taskmaster, Eric O'Grady's Life Model Decoy counterpart Black Ant, and Doctor Octopus' Superior Octopus appearance.[143] However, in the final stand, Odinson rejects Rogers' authority and sides with his old allies, while the Vision's daughter purges him of the virus and Brother Voodoo exorcises Chthon from the Witch, while Taskmaster and Black Ant free the imprisoned Champions in exchange for leniency.[144]

In the one-shot issue that ties in with "Marvel Legacy," there was a version of the Avengers that existed back in 1,000,000 BC. The line-up consists of Agamotto, Odin, an unnamed Stone Age woman that was the host for the Phoenix Force and Stone Age versions of Black Panther, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist and Star Brand. This group first came together to defeat an out-of-control Celestial called the Fallen where they defeated it and sealed it underground somewhere in South Africa.[149][150]

In the alternate future timeline known as MC2, the Avengers disbanded and Avengers Mansion was a museum. An emergency forced Edwin Jarvis to sound an alert, and a new generation of heroes formed a new team of Avengers. Most of the new Avengers were children of established Marvel superheroes.

A Black Ops team called the Avengers debuted sometime after the Ultimatum storyline. This version was a project headed up by Nick Fury and Tony Stark's brother Gregory Stark to bring Captain America back. Its known members consisted of War Machine, Hawkeye, the Black Widow II (Monica Chang), Spider (a Spider-Man clone created by Gregory Stark from the DNA of Spider-Man and Professor X), Tyrone Cash (who was the original Hulk before Bruce Banner), the Red Wasp, and Nerd Hulk (an intelligent clone of the Hulk who lacks the Hulk's rage).[154] Additional members included Punisher (who joined the Avengers against a Ghost Rider manhunt)[155] and the half vampire Blade (who joined the group to help against a vampire invasion).[156]

The Avengers existed as a team prior to a zombie contagion's arrival in the original Marvel Zombies universe, and resembled their pre-disassembled roster. When several of their members were infected, they set about eating humanity and sent out a bogus "Avengers Assemble" call to draw super-humans to the Avengers Mansion, infected more heroes and thus spread the virus. The team fell apart and many of its members were killed as time passed.[158]

A second team of zombie Avengers appeared in Marvel Zombies Return. That team was brought together to find food and kill any resistance (zombie or uninfected) and was led by Sentry. Also on the team were the zombies Moon Knight, Namor, Quasar, Quicksilver, Thundra, and Super-Skrull. They were joined by zombie Giant-Man of the original Zombiverse, who was trying to power a dimensional teleporter, but were all killed by Spider-Man's New Avengers. The team was composed of himself with Iron Man, Sandman, and the zombie Hulk and Wolverine.[159]

During the "Secret Wars" storyline in the Battleworld domain of 2099, the Avengers are a team of corporate superheroes sponsored by Alchemax. The group consists of Captain America (a Latina woman named Roberta Mendez), Black Widow (an African-American woman named Tania), Iron Man (a dwarf named Sonny Frisco), Hawkeye (a half-man, half-bird creature named Max), and Hercules.[163]

Marvel Studios productions include: The 2012 live-action film The Avengers, featuring Nick Fury recruiting Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye to form the Avengers to fight Loki and the Chitauri invasion of New York City. At the time, it set the record for the biggest opening debut in North America, with a weekend gross of $207.4 million.[1] A second Avengers film titled Avengers: Age of Ultron was released on May 1, 2015, which ended with the Falcon, War Machine, the Vision and Scarlet Witch joining the team after Iron Man, Hawkeye, Thor and the Hulk left the team to explore personal issues (Quicksilver also featured in the film but was killed in the battle with Ultron). The team also featured in the film Captain America: Civil War, which saw Captain America and Iron Man acting as leaders to two Avengers teams acting against and for the 'Sokovia Accords' that would bring heroes under government control, Captain America leading the Winter Soldier, the Falcon, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Ant-Man against Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, the Vision, the Black Panther and Spider-Man, the film concluding with the Avengers essentially disbanded due to the conflict over the Accords. A third Avengers film titled Avengers: Infinity War was released on April 27, 2018, where the heroes join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange to stop the mad titan Thanos as he attempts to claim the Infinity Stones. A fourth untitled Avengers film will be released on May 3, 2019.

^DeFalco, Tom; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2008). "1960s". Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 94. ISBN978-0-7566-4123-8. Filled with some wonderful visual action, The Avengers #1 has a very simple story: the Norse god Loki tricked the Hulk into going on a rampage ... The heroes eventually learned about Loki's involvement and united with the Hulk to form the Avengers.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)

^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 99: "'Captain America lives again!' announced the cover of The Avengers #4. A mere [four] months after his imposter had appeared in Strange Tales #114, the real Cap was back."

^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 101: "Time travel had fascinated writers of speculative fiction ever since H. G. Wells published The Time Machine, so Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced their own master of time in The Avengers #8."

^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 106: "Europe's wealthiest nobleman, Count Nefaria, had a terrible secret: he was also the most powerful crimelord on Earth. Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, Nefaria secretly ran the worldwide criminal organization called the Maggia."

^Daniels, Les (1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 111. ISBN978-0-8109-3821-2. Stan Lee has admitted that by this period the intertwined tales of the Marvel Universe were beginning to confuse even him. Keeping top heroes like Thor active in The Avengers without contradicting the information in Thor's own series was becoming a chore. A changing of the guard was the result for The Avengers.

^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 108: "No super hero team in the history of comic books had ever gone through such a massive overhaul. A new precedent had been set! The Avengers line-up continued to change and evolve over the years."

^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 132: "The updated Vision was created by writer Roy Thomas, who continued his trick of taking a name that Marvel already owned and creating a new super hero around it ... The new Vision, drawn by John Buscema, was a synthozoid – an android with synthetic human organs."

^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 133: "Hank had suffered a mental breakdown and created this new identity."

^Daniels p. 150: "This wild tale ... attempted to tie together more than thirty years of the company's stories ... More than any previous work, 'The Kree-Skrull War' solidified the idea that every comic book Marvel had ever published was part of an endless, ongoing saga."

^Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 150: "Unprecedented in Marvel history, this epic spanned nine issues of The Avengers. The saga began in The Avengers #89."

^Englehart, Steve (n.d.). "The Avengers-Defenders Clash". SteveEnglehart.com. Archived from the original on May 19, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2013. From the moment it was born, this sequence was called the Avengers-Defenders Clash.

^DeFalco "1980s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 219: "Hawkeye and his new wife, Mockingbird, were given the job of running the West Coast branch ... The initial four-issue limited series proved so popular that it became a regular monthly book that ran for 102 issues."

^Manning "1990s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 282: "Although the flashy excitement of the Heroes Reborn event had given fans a nostalgic visit to the early part of the decade, by the end of the year, Marvel had set the stage for the return to its time-honored classic lineup."

^Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 289: "Spider-Man had always been thought of as a solo hero and one who wouldn't work well in a team. Writer Brian Michael Bendis shattered that myth in the mid-2000s when he made Spidey a member of the New Avengers."

^Manning "2000s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 324: "Superstar writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch relaunched the title under the name The New Avengers. The comic focused more on Marvel's arguably most popular super heroes."

^Manning "2000s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 335: "With the help of artist Frank Cho, [Brian Michael] Bendis created the Mighty Avengers, a government-sponsored team that would serve as the antithesis to the still-underground New Avengers."